Bugs 'n stuff

Oh, so much to catch up on. Sorry for not posting in an eternity, but June has turned out to be a busy month (where is my lazy, do-nothing summer month?).

I had a wonderful weekend in Fredericksburg with the girlfriends to celebrate turning 40. Then had a wonderful week vacation with ALL of the family (Cousin Camp '07) down at the beach.

But one REALLY exciting thing that has happened is that we returned from the beach trip to discover these groovy caterpillars eating my parsley:
There were seven of them creeping all over my plants. And yesterday I noticed a new one added to the bunch (very small one), but two others are now missing - I assume making a chrysalis somewhere. So after a little research I've discovered they are Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars. And it looks like we'll either end up with this (a Black Swallowtail):

Or this (an Anise Swallowtail):
Either of which I'd be happy to see. We had a swallowtail show up last year and it was the biggest and most beautiful butterfly I've ever seen. However they have almost munched through all the leaves of my parsley, so I'm thinking I might go buy a few more plants to put out there to keep them fed.

Another discovery we had is that "Mr. Snakey" has reappeared in our backyard. It's a small garter snake we found earlier this year living under one of my planters (actually the one with the caterpillars in it). But I think he made a new home once he got tired of little kids lifting the planter up to catch a look at him and/or pick him up. But maybe after a week of no prying eyes he must have figured the little ones had moved elsewhere, because when they checked the evening we got home he was back in his old spot.

Here's one thing I love about my kids. They love bugs, snakes and other creepy crawly things. Grace will run up to me holding that garter snake, usually freaking me out (yes, he's cute but I have to steel myself to reach out for him). She loves to touch the new caterpillars, and runs around picking up the hairy webworm caterpillars that are everywhere this year. And of course, like every child, they are all over pillbugs. So I find myself saying more often than I'd like "the bugs may NOT come into the house - they must stay outside."

Tired of the rain, but oh what a great yard

So it seems to have been raining nonstop this entire Spring. We've grumbled a lot being stuck inside the house so much with the kids (or them getting mud-covered feet when they head outside), but my flower beds are going gangbusters with all the watering. So I thought for a change I'd show off some photos of something other than my kids. We were enjoying the front porch yesterday after the storm that blew through in the morning cut the humidity, and I felt the need to document some of these beautiful plants.

The balloon flowers are popping open all over the place. Mine grow freakishly tall - at least 3 feet - probably because they are striving to get sunlight in the middle of this shady bed.


Not a really great shot of the lantana, but this is one of our biggest butterfly draws in the front yard. This particular one with the pink and yellow flowers gets enormous.


I didn't have any good daylilies to get a photo of, but of course at least four of these buds opened up today.


The wandering jew that comes back each year next to the porch. The little pink flowers on the ends look great, especially when there are water droplets on the plant. You can see one of our new pots in the background of the picture.


One of my two pots of marigolds. I like these with the blended orange and yellow colors.


Here's a better shot of the new pot (one of two). I just planted these this weekend, so they should fill out as the plants grow a little.


Our awesome front porch. Jim picked up these chairs this weekend and had just put them together. We still want to add a coffee table and maybe some more plants. Plus I'd like for us to add a ceiling fan at some point to help blow away the mosquitos. But it is a great spot to sit and watch the neighbors go by.


Our house in it's wonderfully green Spring setting. We really do like our 91-year old house, with all the problems (challenges?) that entails.


I tried to get a shot that showed all my flowers, but they don't really show up from this distance too well.


Ahhh...what was waiting for me once I finished taking all the photos. I sat on the other porch chair next to Jim and watched the kids play together in the yard. A little bit of heaven on a Sunday afternoon.